Forgive but Can't Forget
by Gallifrey Girl 9
Summary: Leonardo always listens to his brothers, even when he shouldn't. Aftermath of a fight with some nasty words said. Leonardo will always love and forgive his brothers. However, will he be able to forget the horrible words that were spoken? First story! Rated for my insecurity of the two bad words I wrote. ONESHOT *art by Sneefee*


**So this is my first story! Yay! Hopefully it's well recieved in the TMNT community! One-shot I had stuck in my head all day. I thought it'd be a great one to start my Fanfiction career with! My goal is one review! Whoever would be so kind to do that would be awesome and will get a smiley face :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the turtles. Why do people always have to say that? If I did, don't you think I would've made this into a new episode or movie instead a short story on a website made for fans?**

Leonardo elegantly glides through the kata, a mantra repeating in his head.

_Stuck-up… We don't need you… I HATE YOU…_

He shudders, breaking his thoughts and faltering. He groans and starts again.

_Stop thinking. Don't think about it. Focus._

But it hurts. It hurts so much: Those burning words, repeating over and over again. It's okay though. No matter how much he hates him; Leonardo will always love and protect him.

Leonardo feels a presence lurking behind him.

Raphael.

"Hey, Leo," he says, noticing Leo stiffening. Leo ignores him and continues with a focus-demanding kata. "Can we talk?"

"I have nothing to say," he responds, his voice slightly shaking. _Dammit, don't let him see you hurt._

"Well I do." Raph's voice is strained, trying to be gentle. "I just wanted ta say I-I'm sorry. I didn' mean what I said."

_Stuck-up… We don't need you… I HATE YOU…_

That cracked Leo's demeanor. "No you did! That's the thing with you! You mean everything you say!" he snaps before turning away again. He feels the heat rise to his cheeks and the dojo starts to get blurry.

_Get it together, Leo._

Raph looks at Leo, stricken, "Leo… bro… you don't actually think I hate you, do you?"

"You say you do," Leo mutters.

"I get mad! I say stupid shit all the time!"

_Stuck-up… We don't need you… I HATE YOU…_

Leo inhales and breathes out, "But you always say your mind. Even if you don't hate me you must have some dislike for me that it grows from."

"I don't!"

"Then why do you always say it? Why do you always imply it?" he growls.

"Leo I'm tryin' ta apologize!"

_Stuck-up… We don't need you… I HATE YOU…_

"And what good will that do? You always say stuff like that and then once you've calmed down, you regret it all! I got the routine, okay! If you don't mean what you say at all then you would at least put the effort to fix your anger!"

"We all can't be the perfect students, Fearless!" Raph spits.

_Stuck-up… We don't need you… I HATE YOU…_

"See! There you go again! I only try my best, and even then I have to work extra. I enjoy ninjutsu, Raph. It's my life! You always call me the perfect student like it's an insult. I don't care if you think I'm perfect! That's a complement. What's not is when I do mess up, you get just as mad! Even Mikey and Donny! Can't you understand that hurts me more? And what's with Fearless anyway? You say it as an insult then other times like admiration! What do you want from me, Raph?" he screams, tears freely streaming down his cheeks. Ashen-faced, Leo turns away and bolts to his room.

_HATE YOU… HATE YOU… HATE YOU…_

_I can't ever forget what you say. But that's okay, Raph, because not matter what I will always forgive you .I just don't want you to feel you have to apologize to someone you hate._

"Leo, won' you just talk to me?" Raph asks softly, his knuckles rapping the door.

"Go away, Raphael."

Raph smirks, "Nah, where's the fun in that?" He turns and sits down, his back leaning on the door.

"You wanna talk now?"

"No."

"A'right." He dramatically sighs. His sais annoyingly scraping the ground.

Minutes pass before he asks again: "Wanna talk now?"

"No!"

"Tha's cool. Tha's cool," he nods his head. "We can always talk tomorrow, or tonight, or later, or," he mischievously grins, "now."

"Enough Raph!"

He just grins even more. _Now we're getting somewhere._

"I'm startin' to sound like Mikey. Did you want me to tell you what that goof did yesterday?"

"Not particularly."

"I'll tell ya. So, ya remember how much Mikey loves his stupid cartoon shows, right?" Raph's question is answered by silence. "Right?" he asks again, and is met with silence again. "Right?... Right?... Ri-"

"Okay, Raph, I know!" groans the voice behind the door.

Raph just chuckles, "Yeah, it's not easy to ignore me. Anyway, so I decided right before his favorite show came on to take out the batteries of the remote. Ya shoulda seen that knucklehead scrambling around, tryin' to get the TV on! He finally made such a fuss Donny came and gave him new batteries. I'll tell you though: we have some great younger brothers, don' we?"

"Yes, we do," Leo responds instinctively.

"I've got the best brothers. And you know what?" Raph leans closer to the door. "That includes you too."

Silence.

Raph sighs, "Bro, what do you want me to say? What do you want me to do? I'll do it. Just talk to me." The door opens suddenly, making Raph scramble up from the sudden absence of a backrest.

Behind the door is Leo: calmed and obviously well-meditated. "Look, Raph, I'm sorry that I snapped at you."

"_You_'_re _ sorry? Remember who bombed the whole thing in the first place?" Raph gapes.

Leo just smiles. "You were trying to apologize. I shouldn't have blown up at you like that."

Raph shrugs, "Ya had a right. I was a giant jerk."

"You are always a jerk." He swings him arm over Raph's shoulders. "I'm just used to it now."

"Har-di-har-har Fearless."

They start walking to the kitchen, noticing that it was dinner time. Raph suddenly stops.

"What Raph?"

Raph just stares at Leo. "You don't actually think I hate ya, right?" Leo's shoulders sag and he looks away. "Bro?"

"You always tell me you do. I'll always forgive you, but I can never forget what you say," Leo mutters.

"I always say it when I'm _mad_. There's a difference between 'mad me' talkin' and 'me me' talkin'. I don't ever mean what I say when I'm mad. Just remember that. I will always fight by your side, Big Bro. And when I do that, I don't hate 'cha. Got it?"

Leo smiles and turns back to Raph.

"I got it, Little Bro."


End file.
